What Does Hebrews 4:5 Mean in the King James?

And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.

Hebrews 4:5 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

“If they shall enter” is an oath-shaped way of saying they will not: God’s rest is a place one can remain outside.

THE MEANING

God’s rest stands before you as a real place of entry, and the oath makes refusal stark: they will not enter. The warning speaks now wherever a promised rest remains unentered; hearing of it is not the same as entering it.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse undoes the belief that access to God’s rest is automatic simply because it is promised.

THE ROOT

κατάπαυσιν

katapausin

GROWS FROM

παύω

To cease or stop; ⁨κατάπαυσις⁩ means cessation, rest, or a resting place.

The Greek word for “rest” carries the sense of ceasing: this is a settled place of stopping, not merely a brief pause. The oath says that some remain outside that place, while the word itself holds rest together with cessation.

ALSO GROWS

pauō: Cease, stop.

παύω

This root reveals the stopping inside “rest,” a connection made explicit when Hebrews describes someone entering rest as ceasing from work.

katapauō: Bring to rest; cause to cease.

καταπαύω

This verb uses the same root to describe God’s own cessation, linking the offered rest to a pattern already present in God’s completed work.

THE PATTERN

God’s rest is a destination of completion that stands as both invitation and boundary: it can be entered, or refused.

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

Genesis 2:2 · KJVGod’s rest first appears as the cessation that follows completed work.

Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

Psalm 95:11 · KJVThe oath makes clear that God’s rest is a real destination from which a person can remain excluded.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28 · KJVRest is also presented as an open invitation to those carrying a burden.

THE THREAD

For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

Hebrews 4:10 · KJV

Hebrews 4:5 names the boundary, entry can be refused; this verse shows what entering means: coming to cessation, patterned on God’s own rest. The shared ⁨παύω⁩ root links “rest” with “ceasing,” so the English noun opens into an act.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us